Ancient Irish society
was aristocratic. There were no cities, but compounds where the king
lived. It was here he entertained his many chieftains with feasts, poets,
singers, musicians, jugglers and annual assemblies at which games were held.
The Irish "Tuatha" or tribe
was ruled by a king through a general assembly of people which met once a year
in a field among ancestral tombs. Celtic society was divided into three
classes. The class of nobles
consisted of warriors, bards, druids, jurists, men of learning, and
craftsmen. The class of free commoners was composed of farmers and lesser
craftsmen. The class of the unfreed consisted of slaves, laborers, the
subjugated and those who had been degraded. A king presided over
all.
Kingship was sacred to the
Celts. Kings in their mythological tales are barely more than euhemerized
gods. The tribal king was often depicted as married to a tribal
goddess. The quality of the king determined the fertility of the
land. If a king were healthy and virile and without blemish, the
land was fertile. If he were weak or morally blemished, the land was
barren.
It was for this reason that the Irish
were so intolerant of imperfection, especially in their leaders. If a king
were imperfect, either physically [or morally blemished], he was forced to
abdicate. Nuada, though an exceptionally capable king, was forced to
abdicate when he lost an arm in battle. Bres, who replaced him, although
physically without blemish, soon demonstrated moral imperfection in that he
lacked an attribute so characteristic of and so demanded by the Irish. He
lacked a spirit of generosity and hospitality. "No matter how often
his chiefs visited him their breaths did not smell of ale." Kings
were expected to distribute wealth to their chieftains in return for their
military service and loyalty. It was for this reason that they had to
constantly accumulate more wealth by expansion.
The king was elected from the
descendants of a great-grandfather. Thus four generations were eligible
for election. Although the king was the trustee, all land was held in
common by the local tribe. All shared in inheritances and all shared in
fines that might be levied against a tribe by a conquering enemy.
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From: Fun with Irish Myths, by John J. Ollivier,
pp 33-34, Top of the Mountain Publishing, Largo, Florida 34643-5117,
U.S.A. Paperback With permission of the author, who has
also written Fun with Greek Myths, and Fun with Nursery Rhymes, and,
soon to be released, Fun with Nordic Myths.